Pages

Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween 2011

For years we've been big Halloween Celebrators. It was a fun opportunity to decorate and dress up. It didn't take long before it became "Katie's Holiday." She LOVED it. All year long, she loved it. I'd have to slow her down from decorating the house - she'd want to start pulling everything out in September. Year after year, we'd bargain to get her to hold off on the decorations until October 1st.

But this year, Katie's far away doing her own Halloween. At first, I had such a hard time with it. Nobody there to pull out the decorations with me. Ron pulled the rubbermaids down off the top shelves in the garage, but it just felt... off. Still, Halloween presses on, so I'm simplyngoing to rise to the occasion.

So, first we have our pre-party costumes for the dogs...

But Buddy's shark outfit was too small and we traded it for a pumpkin costume.

At the last minute, Alyssa decided to join the festivities and found a costume to wear to Avenue Five. Hopefully, she won't have to cut anyone's hair wearing this...

Grandma has her lovely headgear. And, she's bringing "a friend" to our house to hand out candy. They live in a Senior citizen apartment complex and kids don't typically trick-or-treat there. So she's bringing her Bulgarian neighbor to see what this is all about!

Then...after a day of shopping and cleaning.... time for more last minute decorating on the patio!

My favorite witch guards yummy snacks

Gracie, the Sheriff

Last minute glitter eyelashes - A MUST!

And now we're ready! Josh keeps Gracie on her leash. She's trying to get used to being around children. They rush at her and scare her. But that's no problem because Buddy greets everyone! He looks pretty cute in his pumpkin suit, and the kids are quick to offer him to Trick or Treaters who show the slightest interest in him! Most respond that they already have dogs, and they know that trick of trying to palm their dog off on passersby.

Grandma is about an hour late with her friend, Tudor. He is from Bucharest and has a very thick accent. He didn't realize Grandma wasn't going to drive so that was the delay. No worries. They sit on the front patio while the early trick-or-treaters come by.

Sorry so blurry :(

Still getting used to Ron's new camera

Then the Trick-or-Treaters come out in droves. Alyssa commandeers the hand-outs once I realized that Tudor and Grandma were allowing the kids to grab hands full of candy from the basket! I even had to make another run for candy - before it was even dark! Lucky CVS is just up the street! Monster Mash music is pouring out our upstairs windows. Several other
houses have competing music. Halloween is now in full swing!

There's still a burn ban going on. Temperatures are cooler but no rain
in sight. So that meant we had to ditch our plan to have a small fire on
the front patio. Instead, we opted for orange and purple twinkle lights
in big jars. That's why Gracie's face is so orange...the glow from the
twinkle jars!

I really think I'm going to create a video about Halloween Patterson
Style, similar to what we did for Father's Day... obviously not in time
for Halloween this year, but VERY soon. While we're still in the mood.
There are so many great memories, we'll walk down spooky memory lane
together!

About Me

Sometimes I think I should have just named this blog, ...Talking to Myself. It really is the place I come to just record what's going on or write out my thoughts on something. I am always so excited (startled even) when someone comments, because I usually just consider that I am rambling to myself. So, thank you for commenting, if you feel like it. It's nice.
Now for my REAL "About Me," I am a mom in transition. After years of raising kids, unschooling most of it, life shifts. As it should.
The kids are now 25, 23, and 20. Evidently, they were raised as adventure-seekers, because that's exactly what they're off doing!
And so now I'm trying to figure out my next steps. So many choices - it's exciting!
In the meantime, here's a bit about our life, what we did, how we did it, what we learned, where we're headed.